History of the Old Testament Volume 5, Part 12
Nathan and Dauid.
YEt Bathſheba mourned for the death of that husband, whō ſhe had bene drawn to diſhonor: How could ſhee beſtowe teares enow vponupon that funerall, whereof her ſinne was the cauſe? If ſhee had but a ſuſpicion of the plot of his death, the fountaines of her eyes could not yeild water enough to waſh off her husbands blood; Her ſin was more worthy of ſorrow, then her loſſe. If this griefe had beene right placed, the hope of hiding her ſhame, and the ambition to be a Queene had not ſo ſoone mittigated it; neither had ſhe vponupon any termes beene drawne into the bed of her husbands murtherer. EueryEvery gleame of earthly comfort can drye vp the teares of worldly ſorrow. Bathſheba hath ſoone loſt her griefe at the Court; The remembrance of an husband is buryed in the iollity and ſtate of a Princeſſe. Dauid ſecurely inioyes his ill-purchaſed louelove, and is content to exchange the conſcience of his ſinne, for the ſenſe of his pleaſure. But the iuſt and holy God will not put it vp ſo; he that hates finne ſo much the more, as the offender is more deare to him, will let Dauid feele the bruiſe of his fall. If Gods beſt children hauehave beene ſometimes ſuffered to ſleep in a ſin, at laſt he hath awakened them in a fright.
Dauid was a Prophet of God, yet he hath not only ſtept into theſe foule ſinnes, but ſoiournes with them; If any profeſſion or ſtate of life could hauehave priuiledged from ſinne; the Angels had not ſinned in heauen, nor man in Paradiſe: Nathan the Prophet is ſent to the Prophet Dauid, for reproofe, for conuiction, Had it beene any other mans caſe, none could hauehave bene more quick-ſighted then the Princely Prophet, in his owne he is ſo blinde, that God is fayne to lend him others eyes. Euen the Phiſition himſelfe when he is ſicke, ſends for the counſell of thoſe whom his health did mutually ayde with aduiſe. Let no man think himſelfe too good to learne; Teachers themſelues may be taught that in their owne particular, which in a generality they hauehave often taught others; It is not only ignorance that is to be remoued, but miſ-affection.
Who can preſcribe a iuſt period to the beſt mans repentance? About ten moneths are paſſed ſince Dauids ſinne; in all which time I finde no newes of any ſerious compunction; It could not be but ſome glaunces of remorſe muſt needes hauehave paſſed thorough his Soule long ere this; but a due and ſolemne contrition was not heard of till Nathans meſſage; and perhaps had bene further adiourned, if that Monitor had beene longer deferred; Alas, what long and dead ſleepes may the holyeſt Soule take in fearefull ſinnes; Were it not for thy mercy, O God, the beſt of vsus ſhould end our ſpirituall lethargie in a ſleep of death:
It might hauehave pleaſed God as eaſily to hauehave ſent Nathan to check Dauid in his firſt purpoſe of ſinning; So had his eyes beene reſtrayned, Bathſheba honeſt, Vriah aliue with honor; now the wiſdome of the Almighty knew how to winne more glory by the permiſſion of ſo foule an euill, then by the preuention; yea, he knew how by the permiſſion of one ſinne, to preuent millions; how many thouſand had ſinned in a vaine preſumption on their owne ſtrength, if Dauid had not thus offended; how many thouſand had deſpayred in the conſcience of their owne weakeneſſes, if theſe horrible ſinnes had not receiued forgiueneſſe. It is happie for all times, that wee hauehave ſo holy a ſinner, ſo ſinfull a penitent; It matters not how bitter the pill is, but how well wrapped; ſo cunningly hath Nathan conueyed this doſe, that it begins to worke ere it bee taſted; there is no one thing wherin is more vſe of wiſdome, then the due contriuing of a reprehenſion, which in a diſcreet deliuery helps the diſeaſe, in an vnwiſe, deſtroyes nature.
Had not Nathan bene vſed to the poſſeſſion of Dauids eare; this complaint had beene ſuſpected. It well beſeemes a King to take information by a Prophet. Whiles wiſe Nathan was querulouſly diſcourſing, of the cruell rich man that had forceably taken away the only Lambe of his poore neighbour, how willingly doth Dauid liſten to the ſtory, and how ſharply (euen aboue law) doth he cenſure the fact? As the Lord liueth the man that hath done this thing ſhall ſurely dye.) Full little did he thinke that he had pronounced ſentence againſt himſelfe; It had not bene ſo heauy, if he had knowne on whom it ſhould hauehave light; We hauehave open eares & quick tongues to the vices of others; How ſeuere Iuſticers we can be to our very owne crimes in others perſons? how flattering paraſites to anothers crime in our ſelues? The life of doctrine is in application; Nathan might hauehave beene long enough in his narration, in his inuectiue, ere Dauid would hauehave bene touched with his owne guiltineſſe; but now that the Prophet brings the word home to his boſome, he cannot but be affected. Wee may take pleaſure, to heare men ſpeake in the clouds, we neuer take profit till we finde a propriety in the exhortation, or reproofe; There was not more cunning in the parable, then courage in the application (Thou art the man) If Dauid be a King, hee may not look, not to heare of his faults; Gods meſſages may be no other then vnpartial. It is a trecherous flattery in diuine errands to regard greatneſſe: If Prophets muſt be mannerly in the forme, yet in the matter of reproofe, reſolute: The words are not their owne, They are but the Heralds of the King of heauen, Thus ſaith the Lord God of Iſrael.
How thunder-ſtriken do we thinke Dauid did now ſtand? how did the change of his colour bewray the confuſion in his Soule; whiles his conſcience ſaid the ſame within, which the Prophet ſounded in his eare? And now leaſt ought ſhould be wanting to his humiliation, all Gods former fauours ſhall bee layd before his eyes, by way of exprobration: He is worthy to be vpbraided with mercies, that hath abuſed mercyes vntounto wantonneſſe; whiles we doe well, God giues and ſayes nothing, when we doe ill, hee layes his benefits in our diſh, and caſts them in our teeth, that our ſhame may bee ſo much the more; by how much our obligations hauehave bene greater. The bleſſings of God in our vnworthy caryage proue but the aggrauations of ſinne, and additions to iudgement.
I ſee all Gods children falling into ſinne, ſome of them lying in ſinne; none of them maintayning their ſinne; Dauid cannot hauehave the hart, or the face to ſtand out againſt the meſſage of God, but now as a man confounded, and condemned in himſelfe, hee cryes out in the bitterneſſe of a wounded Soule, (I hauehave ſinned againſt the Lord) It was a ſhort word, but paſſionate; and ſuch as came from the bottome of a contrite hart; The greateſt griefes are not moſt verball: Saul confeſſed his ſinne more largely, leſſe effectually; God cares not for phraſes, but for affections. The firſt peece of our amends to God for ſinning, is the acknowledgement of ſinne; He can do little that in a iuſt offence cannot accuſe himſelfe: If we cannot be ſo good as we would, it is reaſon we ſhould do God ſo much right, as to ſay, how euill we are. And why was not this don ſooner? It is ſtrange to ſee how eaſily ſin gets into the hart, how hardly it gets out of the mouth; Is it becauſe ſinne, like vntounto Satan, where it hath got poſſeſſion is deſirous to hold it; and knowes that it is fully eiected by a free confeſſion? or, becauſe in a guiltineſſe of deformity, it hides it ſelfe in the breſt where it is once intertained, and hates the light? or becauſe the tongue is ſo fee'd with ſelfe-louelove, that it is loath to bee drawne vntounto any verdict againſt the hart, or hands? or, is it out of an idle miſpriſion of ſhame, which whiles it ſhould bee placed in offending, is miſplaced in diſcloſing of our offence?
Howeuer, ſure I am, that God hath need euen of racks to draw out confeſſions, and ſcarce in death it ſelfe, are we wrought to a diſcouery of our errors.
There is no one thing, wherin our folly ſhewes it ſelfe more, then in theſe hurtfull concealements: Contrary to the proceedings of humane Iuſtice, it is with God, Confeſſe and liue; no ſooner can Dauid ſay, I hauehave ſinned, then Nathan infers, The Lord alſo hath put away thy ſin. He that hides his ſins ſhall not proſper, but hee that confeſſeth and forſaketh them, ſhall finde mercy Who would not accuſe himſelfe, to be acquitted of God? O God, who would not tell his wickednes to thee, that knowſt it better then his owne heart, that his heart may bee eaſed of that wickedneſſe, which being not told, killeth? Since we hauehave ſinned, why ſhould we be niggardly of that action, wherein wee may at once giuegive glory to thee, and releefe to our ſoules?
Dauid had ſworne in a zeale of Iuſtice, that the rich Oppreſſour, for but taking his poore neighbours lambe, ſhould dye the death; God, by Nathan, is more fauourable to Dauid, then to take him at his word; Thou ſhalt not dye: O the maruellous power of repentance; Beſides adultery, Dauid had ſhed the bloud of innocent Vriah; The ſtrict law was eye for tye, tooth for tooth; He that ſmiteth with the ſword, ſhall periſh with the ſword; Yet, as if a penitent confeſſion had diſpenſed with the rigor of Iuſtice, now God ſaies, Thou ſhalt not dye. Dauid was the voyce of the Law, awarding death vntounto ſin; Nathan was the voyce of the Goſpell, awarding life vntounto the repentance for ſin. Whatſoeuer the ſore bee, neuer any ſoule applyed this remedy, and dyed; neuer any ſoule eſcaped death, that applyed it not.
Dauid himſelfe ſhall not dye for this fact; but his miſ-begotten childe ſhall dye for him; He that ſayd, The Lord hath put away thy ſin, yet ſayd alſo, The ſword ſhall not depart from thine houſe.
The ſame mouth, with one breath, pronounces the ſentence both of abſolution, and death, Abſolution to the perſon, death to the iſſue. Pardon may well ſtand with temporall afflictions. Where God hath forgiuen, though he doe not puniſh, yet he may chaſtize, and that vntounto bloud; neither doth he alwaies forbeare correction, where hee remits reuenge. So long as he ſmites vsus not as an angry Iudge, wee may indure to ſmart from him, as a louing father.
Yet euen this rod did Dauid deprecate with teares: how faine would he ſhake off ſo eaſie a lode? The childe is ſtricken; the father faſts and prayes, and weepes, and lyes all night vponupon the earth, and abhors the noyſe of comfort; That childe, which was the fruit and monument of his odious adultery, whom hee could neuer hauehave looked vponupon, without a recognition of his ſin; in whoſe face he could not but hauehave ſtill read the records of his own ſhame, is thus mourned for, thus ſued for; It is eaſie to obſerue that good man ouerpaſſionately affected to his children. Who would not hauehave thought, that Dauid might hauehave held himſelfe well appayd, that his ſoule eſcaped an eternall death, his body a violent: though God ſhould puniſh his ſin, in that childe, in whom hee ſinned: Yet euen againſt this croſſe, he bends his prayers, as if nothing had been forgiuen him: There is no childe that would be ſcourged, if he might eſcape for crying; No affliction is for the time other then greeuous; neither is therfore yeelded vntounto, without ſome kinde of reluctation. Far yet was it from the heart of Dauid, to make any oppoſition to the will of God; he ſued, he ſtrugled not; There is no impatience in entreaties; He wel knew, that the threats of tē poral euils, ran commonly with a ſecret condition; and therfore might perhaps bee auoyded by humble importunity: If any meanes vnderunder Heauen can auert judgements, it is our prayers.
God Could not chuſe, but like well the boldneſſe of Dauids faith, who after the apprehenſion of ſo heauy a diſpleaſure, is ſo far from doubting of the forgiueneſſe of his ſin, that hee dares become a Sutor vntounto God for his ſicke childe. Sinne doth not make vsus more ſtrange, then faith, confident.
But, it is not in the power of the ſtrongeſt faith, to preſerue vsus from all afflictions; After all Dauids prayers and teares, the childe muſt dye. The carefull ſeruants dare but whiſper this ſad newes: They, who had found their Maſter ſo auerſe from the motion of comfort, in the ſickneſſe of the childe, feared him vncapable of comfort in his death.
Suſpition is quick-witted; EueryEvery occaſion makes vsus miſdoubt that euent, which wee feare; This ſecrecy proclaymes, that which they were ſo loth to vtter; Dauid perceiues his childe dead, and now he riſes vp from the earth whereon hee lay, and waſhes himſelfe, and changeth his apparrell, and goes firſt into Gods houſe to worſhip, and then into his owne to eat; now he refuſes no comfort, who before would take none; The iſſue of things doth more fully ſhew the will of God, then the prediction; God neuer did any thing, but what hee would; hee hath ſometimes foretold that for triall, which his ſecret will intended not; hee would foretell it, hee would not effect it, becauſe hee would therfore foretell it, that he might not effect it; His predictions of outward euils are not alwayes abſolute, his actions are; Dauid well ſees by the euent, what the decree of God was, concerning his childe; which now he could not ſtriue againſt, without a vaine impatience; Till wee know the determinations of the Almighty, it is free for vsus to ſtriue in our prayers; to ſtriue with him, not againſt him; when once wee know them, it is our duty to ſit downe in a ſilent contentation;
(Whiles the childe was yet aliue, I faſted and wept, for I ſayd, Who can tell whether the Lord will bee gracious to mee, that the childe may liue, but now hee is dead, Wherefore ſhould I faſt? Can I bring him backe againe?)
The greefe that goes before an euill for remedy, can hardly bee too much, but that which followes an euill, paſt remedy, cannot bee too little: Euen in the ſaddeſt accident, death, we may yeeld ſomething to nature, nothing to impatience: Immoderation of ſorrow, for loſſes paſt hope of recouery, is more ſullen, then vſe-full; our ſtomach may be bewrayed by it, not our wiſdome.